Vending machine
AssigneeSankyo Electric Company Limited
InventorKunitake Hatori
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vending machine having a plurality of article storage housing units which are removably mounted in the machine cabinet. Each of the housing units is slidably supported at the top and bottom ends by guide means to be smoothly drawable out of the machine cabinet. The machine is provided with releasable stopper means for preventing the movement of each housing unit loaded within the cabinet. It is performed after releasing the releasable stopper means to drawing the housing unit out of the cabinet. The machine is further provided with means for regulating electric cables connected to each housing unit to prevent the cables from being caught during the movement of said housing unit.
Claims11
In a vending machine including a cabinet with a front door and article storage means mounted within said cabinet, the improvement comprising:
- at least one housing unit having a top end plate, a front end plate, and a rear end plate for storing articles to be vended,
- an upper elongated guide member fixed on the top end plate of said housing unit and extending from a front end to a rear end thereof,
- guide rail means mounted on an upper inside surface of said cabinet and extending from a front end to a rear end of said cabinet,
- slidable guide means being slidably supported along said guide rail means, said slidable guide means slidably supporting and guiding said upper elongated guide member to permit the movement of said housing unit into and out from said cabinet,
- guide groove means, mounted on a lower frame portion of said cabinet, extending from a front end to a rear end of said cabinet and positioned to receive and slidably guide said lower elongated guide member,
- stopper means for preventing said housing unit from being withdrawn from a loaded condition within said cabinet, said stopper means comprising a hooked lever means pivotally mounted in said cabinet above said housing unit when said housing unit is loaded therein and a hooked end of said hooked lever means being movable in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis to be freely pendant by gravity force, said hooked end being arranged to fall into and to be received in a hole formed in said top plate of said housing unit to prevent the withdrawal of said housing unit from a loaded condition within said cabinet,
- means for limiting the downward pendant movement of said hooked end of said hooked lever means to position a cammed surface of said hooked end for engagement with and for riding upon a top end plate of said housing unit in response to a loading operation of said housing unit into said cabinet,
- stopper releasing means provided in said housing unit for pushing said hooked end of said hooked lever means upwardly and out from said hole of said top end plate and said housing to release said stopper means, said stopper releasing means comprising a rod member mounted for free movement in the vertical direction between a lower rest position and an upper raised position, and a plate member provided at the upper end of said rod member, said plate member being disposed beneath said hole to urge said hooked end of said hooked lever means upwardly and out from said hole upon raising said plate member;
- and
- manually operated lever means coupled with said rod member of said stopper releasing means, said manually operated lever being exposed through the front end plate of said housing unit for operation from outside said housing means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.